MSNBC "The Ed Show" - Transcript:
Interview
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For more, let me bring in Bernie Sanders, Senator from Vermont and Scott Paul who was the President of the Alliance for American Manufacturing.Senator, I know you`ve been in Iowa a lot. I`m doing a story on it for next week`s Ed Show. I was there today. I heard a lot about opportunity, I heard a lot about jobs going overseas and what is come back in to Iowa, does that match what has left. Is that what you`re hearing?
SEN. BERNIE SANDER, (I) VERMONT: Absolutely Ed. The fact to the matter is, since the year 2000 we have lost 60,000 manufacturing plants in the United States of America and millions, millions of decent paying jobs and a lot that is attributable to our disastrous trade policy of not NAFTA, CAFTA, permanent normal trade relations with China.
And it`s not only the loss of jobs. We are on a race to the bottom because now companies in America will have to compete with companies that have moved a broad -- who can manufacture at a lower wages. And that is one of the reasons why median family income has declined by $5,000 since the year 2000.
So this is the issue that people are talking about. In my view everything that I hear is, people want us to transform our trade policy, demand the corporate America, start reinvesting in the United States of America and not in China. And I find it very hard to believe that a candidate like Mr. Perdue could actually be proud of throwing -- helping to throw American workers out on the street and move plants aboard.
That`s nothing to be proud of.
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SCHULTZ: Senator, Ebola and ISIS have sacked a lot of action, out of the room, grabbed a lot of attention yet when you go to the middle of the country, you still hear about jobs. And they`re doesn`t seem to be a lot of confidence in what President Obama has accomplished with 55 months of private sector job growth. Where is the disconnect here as you see it and what has to be messaged to the people before the midterms?
SANDERS: Well, I think there are a couple of disconnects, Ed. First of all the corporate media unfortunately is not terribly interested in what happens to the American working class. Just not all that interest, not a lot of discussion about trade, not raising the minimum wage about pay equity, about growing income and wealth and equality. That`s not just what they`re interested in.
Second of all, what I think is that in every meeting that I go to, Ed, the issues that people are talking about is what is happening not only to their lives and in many cases what their lives are about, working longer hours for lower wages, worrying whether they could have a job tomorrow. But they`re also worried about their kids. What kind of economic life are their kids going to have? All they`re going to be decent paying jobs for their kids.
Look, in my view, you are never going to have a strong economy unless we are producing real products. And while we have seen in recent years an increase in manufacturing jobs in this country, what we have also seen is that many jobs being created including the manufacturing jobs are not paying the kinds of wages that our working people need.
In fact many of the new manufacturing jobs being created today are paying significantly less than the manufacturing jobs that we have lost. So I think.
SCHULTZ: No doubt.
SANDERS: . while we are much better, and I think nobody can deny this. Economically today than where we were six years ago, the reality is that the middle class continuous to decline, people are still struggling, wages are not inadequate, poverty is much too high and the gap between the people on top and everybody else continuous to grow wider and wider.
SCHULTZ: Senator Bernie Sanders, Scott Paul, Alliance for American Manufacturing, good to have you gentlemen with us tonight. I appreciate it so much. Thank you
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